ICO Analysis: Red Pulse

ICO Analysis: Red Pulse

Introduction

P. H. Madore

P. H. Madore has covered the cryptocurrency beat over the course of hundreds of articles for Hacked's sister site, CryptoCoinsNews, as well as some of her competitors. He is a major contributing developer to the Woodcoin project, and has made technical contributions on a number of other cryptocurrency projects. In spare time, he recently began a more personalized, weekly newsletter at http://ico.phm.link

Many people reading this will share the author’s interest in Asian markets, specifically China, where it seems virtually anything can be produced for less. Competitive labor is not the only thing about China that interests us: their vast population and language also mystify many of us. Trying to invest in China or do business with China is an arduous process. To do it in a serious way, you have to go there, and to really succeed, you probably also need to speak the language. While this will still be the case even as technology improves the situation, Red Pulse has identified a transformative business opportunity in providing a decentralized, verifiable, globally accessible resource for investment information regarding China.

// -- Discuss and ask questions in our community on Workplace. Don't have an account? Send Jonas Borchgrevink an email -- //

While sources of information on China’s financial markets and industries abound, information accuracy and transparency are ongoing problems.

Another thing mentioned in the early passages of the Red Pulse paper is that the on-rush of connected devices as well as new informational resources regarding the Chinese market have created a vast wealth of information, however there is also far more information available than one human can digest. This creates opportunities for bad actors and profiteers to profit through misinformation:

A common theme is for China market pundits and reputable news sources to report on a market rumor in the morning, only to have it be denied in the afternoon.

The Red Pulse whitepaper is authored by two chartered financial analysts named Jonathan Ha and Stanley Chao. Ha has a degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He spent five previous years in consulting, and also some time at LG Electronics. The company has gone from the ground to now planning to launch a massive product with the help of an ICO. They are clear throughout the paper that they don’t want you to see this as a speculative instrument, but if you’re reading Hacked, that’s precisely what you want to do, whether it’s short or long term, getting liquid is your goal. Therefore, we’ll have to dock some pointage for this, since we prefer tokens to provide value based on their utility instead of based on faith in the technology they will enable. This is only a minor setback for Red Pulse, though.

Stanley Chao just lists himself as “Data Science & Analytics Manager” for Red Pulse on his Crunchbase profile, and that he is from Shanghai. According to his LinkedIn profile, however, he has been a due dilligence analyst as well as a marketing associate in the financial world. He’s done a little of everything. One of his titles includes President.

RPX Token

The purpose of the RPX token will be to sustain the growth of the Red Pulse information platform. What Red Pulse’s platform provides is access to accurate information and, troublingly, a reliance on people for accurate information, ultimately. We, of course, believe that AI should be integrated more, but we don’t hear much of that in the Red Pulse whitepaper. This is unfortunate. They have in their roadmap the building of an AI helper for premier clients, but that’s all they mention when it comes to using AI in their platform. We’d prefer it was used in some kind of content delivery capacity, as well, such that it could filter bad content based on various flags that readers could provide.

Nevertheless, although the Red Pulse progenitors don’t want speculation on their token, according ot the way they describe in the whitepaper at least –

RPX is the currency used to drive our monetization system, and relies primarily upon research consumers to determine relative payment amounts for each article. RPX can also be acquired by content consumers that wish to further increase the baseline RPX reward attached to research“prompts” that are initially funded by the Red Pulse platform. Doing so will prioritize certain research “prompts” to be more lucrative for content producers. […]

We consider the RPX token to have practical and sustainable utility as a mechanism for driving our research platform, and should not fall under the definition of a financial security. That being said, we are exploring the necessary requirements for SEC registration. In the interim, we will not be accepting U.S. citizens as part of our RPX crowdsale, to ensure we are operating within current regulatory policies.

They list a number of different applications for the RPX token, however, all of which incentivize people to hold the token in advance of people requiring said tokens for these purposes. This is called speculation, even if it is long-term, optimistic speculation, as some of the use cases go.

But one of the use cases listed is for Steem-like, decentralized content platforms for people to share information, incentivized by RPX tokens. Another is a content rating system that is decentralized for accuracy. This will cut through some of the professional rumor mills and even allegedly government funded shops that influence the Chinese markets.

In contrast to more established financial markets such as the US and Europe, where institutional investors make up more than 90% of participants by trading activity, China’s stock market activity is dominated by individual investors, representing an estimated 80% of all trading activity.

The above statistic stands out, because it demonstrates that there will probably definite be a strong demand for the RPX token when the Chinese market begins to use it for bilateral trading information.

Thus, while the goal of the team at Red Pulse is to attempt to maintain some form of steady value so that information in the market place can work through a reasonable price discovery phase, it would seem that if demand is high, the value of each token will obviously increase. This will mean that those who get the token earlier on will have some advantage over those who come in later, since the token has virtually immediate utility in a useful enterprise – namely, real-world business applications.

The versatility of the token outlined in the whitepaper also entails many use-cases not envisioned. As with anything very well-done, there are future uses which are not envisioned. This is to allude to a point made by the author in an earlier analysis, regarding Enigma, in which he concluded that Red Pulse could and likely should simply expand to consume the functions that Enigma is promising the world.

Chinese Government Implications

Another thing that the Red Pulse terminal will be able to provide people is information about the regulatory environment of China and wherever else the terminal is operated and people provide information. This is useful to people trying to conduct international business on their own. Often, without long, expensive travel, it’s difficult to get things together in such a way that you really have your finger on the pulse of even your own business. Tools that would enable you to have accurate information about the pursuits you were engaged in abroad would be useful.

However, a reader made a useful point to this writer: it seems that anything done in China, the government likes to get its hands into. So we must always be wary that another effort will lift off somewhere else, provide all the same and more services, and Red Pulse will be left in the dust. Short term though, as an investment, it’s likely to be an earner, from flash to bang.

The Rise of the Crypto Bloombergs

As a closing point on the Red Pulse technology and platform, we have to add that it will not be the only. We foresee many such products reaching the market. Red Pulse will be one, but probably not even the only one, that specializes and focuses on Chinese-Western trading. Others will follow.

The Verdict

This author suggests that short and long-term, Red Pulse has a great product, a great team, and the tokens have a great future ahead of them. We land relatively high in spirits and numerical score here.

Risk

The risk of government still managing to interfere with, act upon, and influence information in the system is strong. We deduct 2.25 points for the likelihood that some problems will require technical solutions.

A lack of next-level smart solutions, like AI to rate content and trade patterns, behaviors, and beyond, is problematic. We’d like to see more forward-looking firms in such a forward-looking space. -2

Growth Potential

Everyone in business knows that volume is only heading more and more to Asia, and international trade is only growing. Those first to market with tools and terminals which provide real-time, accurate information to those that need it will be very valuable assets indeed. We believe the product is solid, and that it will deliver results, and that this will bring value to the token holder. +6

Further, we find nothing at fault with the team. In addition to the impressive founder we have in Jonathan Ha, there is also Peter Alexander for a chairman. Alexander previously worked at Prudential in Asia. +4

For general excitement, we lend an additional point which may later be deducted. +1

Disposition

We arrive at an 11 – 4.25, or 6.75, relatively high in the high tides of ICOs these days. We really suggest you think long and hard before passing on the first NEO ICO. Presumably, this will raise tides for NEO as well, but we weren’t here to discuss that aspect.

Investment Details

Red Pulse only want to raise $15 million dollars. They will be selling the RPX tokens at a rate of 1000 to 1 NEO. Bonuses will be paid depending on the day (for day 1, 30%, day 2-3, 20%, and day 4-7, 10% bonuses respectively ) you invest, but one imagines this token sale might be over the first day. We recommend preparedness; acquiring NEO via Binance or one of the other exchanges is advisable in the meantime. Check https://coin.red-pulse.com/ sometime before September 10thto ensure you are prepared.

P. H. Madore

P. H. Madore has covered the cryptocurrency beat over the course of hundreds of articles for Hacked's sister site, CryptoCoinsNews, as well as some of her competitors. He is a major contributing developer to the Woodcoin project, and has made technical contributions on a number of other cryptocurrency projects. In spare time, he recently began a more personalized, weekly newsletter at http://ico.phm.link

Posted on 12:04 am August 30, 2017.

I’ve never participated in a NEO ICO yet, but I assume the main thing should be that you can send it to them. I would ask them for specifics, as I didn’t see that anywhere myself. I should have looked into it, and perhaps I will when I cover it again closer to the ICO. I live in the US so I may have to wait until after the ICO to get RPX tokens.

Posted on 9:55 pm August 29, 2017.

I couldn’t find this information in their FAQ. Will it be a first come first served sale? What is the maximum contribution? I’m registered in their list, so I hope there will be some more information but just checking if I’ve missed sth.?

Posted on 12:02 am August 30, 2017.

It doesn’t mention a maximum contribution, but it will be first come, first served. You will have to meet their KYC guidelines, as I understand it. I’m probably going to end up waiting until this one hits the exchange, to avoid any problems.

Posted on 12:23 am August 30, 2017.

Thanks! Are there any tricks as with Ethereum ICOs where you increase the gas? If they release the recipient address slightly earlier, should I send immediately thereafter or only send when the time hits the full hour? Heard crazy stuff about ICOs selling out in 15 seconds, so just want to be prepared as with the low cap and no maximum contribution this will likely be another one of these.

Posted on 9:06 am August 30, 2017.

Any comments on the fact the NEO wallet(s) need to be updated in order to actually transfer the coins. My understanding is we can see them, but not do anything until a separate DEV team update their wallets to allow that. I am sure they will – it’s just an added risk?

Posted on 8:56 pm August 30, 2017.

Posted on 8:53 am September 2, 2017.

There’s another wallet that will be updated to display the RPX token if you get it from the ICO. I’ll post the name if I can find it. Anyway if you manage to be part of the ICO, the token will be associated with your NEO wallet address so you don’t need to have the updated wallet GUI to get the tokens.

Dmitriy Lavrov is a professional trader, technical analyst and money manager with 10 years of trading experience. He covers Forex, Commodities and Cryptocurrencies. He is among the top 10 most Read More

Jonas Borchgrevink

Founder

Jonas Borchgrevink is the founder of Hacked.com and CryptoCoinsNews.com. He is a serial entrepreneur, trader and investor. He shares his own personal journey on Hacked.com. // -- Discuss and ask Read More

Mate Csar

Analyst

Trader and financial analyst, with 10 years of experience in the field. An expert in technical analysis and risk management, but also an avid practitioner of value investment and passive Read More

Mati Greenspan

Analyst

Senior Market Analyst at Etoro.com. // -- Discuss and ask questions in our community on Workplace. Don't have an account? Send Jonas Borchgrevink an email -- // Important: Never invest Read More

Rakesh Upadhyay

Analyst

Rakesh Upadhyay is a Technical Analyst and Portfolio Consultant for The Summit Group. He has more than a decade of experience as a private trader. His philosophy is to use Read More

Pamela Meropiali

Account Manager

Pamela Meropiali is responsible for users on Hacked.com. // -- Discuss and ask questions in our community on Workplace. Don't have an account? Send Jonas Borchgrevink an email -- // Read More

Joseph Young

Journalist

Joseph Young is a finance and tech journalist & analyst based in Hong Kong. He has worked with leading media and news agencies in the technology and finance industries, offering Read More